Pascal Vossen

Biography:
Born in the Netherlands in 1983, Pascal Vossen is a freelance photojournalist and documentary photographer based in Stockholm, Sweden. Through his work he aims to show what life is like for vulnerable groups affected by extreme poverty or...
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Focus:Photojournalist, Documentary, News, Portraiture

Skills:Film Scanning, Photo Editing, Photojournalism

PHOTOGRAPHY PROJECT

Underage,Underpaid & Unwelcome

Istanbul, Turkey. August 18th, 2016. Hassan, 14, from Aleppo, making counterfeit shoes at one of Istanbul's many unregulated textile factories. He arrived in Istanbul 6 months ago, together with his parents and 5 siblings.

Istanbul, Turkey. August 18th, 2016. Hassan, 14, from Aleppo, making counterfeit shoes at one of Istanbul's many unregulated textile factories. He arrived in Istanbul 6 months ago, together with his parents and 5 siblings.

Istanbul, Turkey. August 18th, 2016. A sweatshop producing counterfeit shoes in the Bağcılar district of Istanbul. The chemicals in the containers are used to glue the shoes together. The manager says the fumes - that are particularly strong in the summer heat - are good as "they keep the workers high all the time".

Istanbul, Turkey. August 11th, 2016. Inside the living space of a Kurdish Syrian family living in the Tarlabaşı district. Many Syrian refugees stay in dilapidated buildings, cellars or empty shops and pay exploitative amounts of rent.

Istanbul, Turkey. August 11th, 2016. Hamoun,9, leaves the home of a Kurdish Syrian family living in the Tarlabaşı district. Many Syrian refugees live in dilapidated buildings, cellars or empty shops and are forced to pay extortionate rental rates.

Istanbul, Turkey. August 17th, 2016. Hamoud,7, is from Kobane, Syria and now lives in the Süleymaniye district of Istanbul. He is looked after by his 8-year-old sister whilst their parents work during the day.

Istanbul, Turkey. August 14th, 2016. Street scene from Tarlabaşı district in Istanbul - home to many Kurdish Syrian refugees. Often they do not speak Turkish and do not feel welcome outside of the Kurdish community.

Istanbul, Turkey. August 12th, 2016. Sulyman, 37 (left) with his daughter Sidar, 7, are Yazidi refugees. They live in a temporary home in the Fatih district. All 8 members of the family were forced to leave Turkey the day after we met with them. They took a bus to Iraq as they were unable to pay the $50 a day the landlord was demanding.

Istanbul, Turkey. August 18th, 2016. A sweatshop producing counterfeit shoes in the Bağcılar district of Istanbul. The manager says he employs the Syrian children as they are cheap but he does not trust them and would employ local workers if he could afford to.

Istanbul, Turkey. August 18th, 2016. Hent (left) is 34 and her husband (centre), Ahmed is 38. They are sat in their home with their son, Nuruddin who is 8 stitching tracksuits. Each parent can earn €9 a day from this work - all of their 8 children are working either in sweatshops or at home.

Istanbul, Turkey. August 18th, 2016. Ryan,9, (left) and her sister Fatima 5, stitch tracksuits in their home. Fatima can complete 10 a day for €3, their parents would prefer for them to be at school but they cannot enrol them due to their 'guest' status and they need the extra income.

Istanbul, Turkey. August 11th, 2016. Fatima, 38 (left) and her daughter Suzanne, 12 (right), are Kurdish Syrian refugees. They live in the Tarlabaşı district of Istanbul, which has a strong Kurdish community, allowing her to send her children to school. Even without the common language barrier, the children of this family are unable to attend school. Economic hardship forces them to work. If not all members of the family are working then there is not enough food on the table.

Istanbul, Turkey. August 18th, 2016. Rosa (left), 32 and her son Ali (right), 5. They are from Kobane in Syria and now live in the Süleymaniye district of Istanbul. Her children are unable to attend a local school due to their 'guest' status, so spend the days at home whilst she works at a local church.

Istanbul, Turkey. August 19th, 2016. Hesham, 13, had been standing with his father at their family's pomegranate stall in Aleppo when Government forces carpet-bombed the area. The shrapnel left him with wounds on his face and shoulders; he was twelve at the time. Nearly one year has passed since Hisham's family arrived in Istanbul and he currently works 10-hour shifts at a textile factory producing counterfeit shoes. Many Syrian children of his generation living in Turkey are forced to leave their childhood behind. They need to give up on their education in exchange for long working hour.

Istanbul, Turkey. August 19th, 2016. Hesham, 13 (centre), and his siblings; Mohammed, 14 (right), Youssef, 10 (left), Nour, 7 (centre high), and Hasan, 3 (centre low) at their home in the Bağcılar district. Hisham, Mohammed and Youssef all work in the same sweatshop.

Istanbul, Turkey. August 19th, 2016. The area of Bağcılar is home to many Syrian refugee families. The children of these families often work in unregulated textile sweatshops. This square is where many of the workers congregate and socialise after work.

This reportage aims to show the lives of Syrian child refugees living in Istanbul who are forced to give up their childhood; unable to attend school and often working in unregulated sweatshops in order to provide for their families. Turkey only provides a temporary ‘guest’ status to the 2.7 million Syrian refugees living in the country; leaving many children who are unable to join a local school vulnerable to this form of exploitation.

Together with British journalist Nils Adler I visited sweatshops producing counterfeit shoes that employ Syrian children aged between 10-14; these children are often forced to accept lower rates than their local colleagues. The children work 10-hour shifts in sweltering conditions, the rooms often full of toxic fumes released from the gluing process. Many of these children – who can earn up to €300 a month – are the breadwinners in their family, often earning more than their parents.

To gain a full understanding of how these children came to be in this situation we visited the children’s homes, meeting their parents and siblings – often living in abandoned or derelict apartments and shops. For many, their younger siblings – who could be as young as five – would also be working from home. Through documenting the stories of the children’s families and their daily life in areas such as Tarlabaşı and Bağcılar we were able to show how the lack of protection offered in Turkey has left many of these families ensnared between the life they escaped from in Syria and a life protected by international conventions in Europe. Unfortunately, it is young adolescents and children who have to take on the responsibility of looking after their families. The maturity they exude, both in appearance and in their behaviour – often translating on behalf of their parents from Arabic/Kurdish to Turkish – further compounds the fact that they are missing out on a childhood and education that would provide them with the opportunities to live a normal adult life.

This reportage has been published in The Daily Telegraph and El Pais.Pascal VossenProjects
Underage,Underpaid & Unwelcome